Cheerleading

Mars Hill Cheerleading consists of a Game Day Team which is made up of 24 – 32 members and a competition team whom are selected from the game day team members. The Game Day team cheers for all home football and basketball games and a select amount of volleyball games. A selected group of 12 - 16 cheerleaders will travel to away football games, and football and basketball tournaments. The competition team will be selected members from the game day team based upon skill level. Being selected as a Mars Hill University cheerleader is a great honor and requires a huge time commitment. Cheerleaders practice 3 times per week, game days, weekly conditioning workouts, and attend study hall. The cheerleaders also participate in campus and community events, volunteer opportunities, alumni events, and fundraisers. Each cheerleader is required to participate in NCA/UCA summer cheerleading camp, and pre-season camp at MHU.

Eligibility:

Tryouts will be open to incoming freshman/transfers and current students in good academic standing. All incoming students must be accepted to Mars Hill University, and provide a copy of their acceptance letter. All students must have a cumulative high school or college GPA of a 2.0 or greater. Video and summer tryouts are available upon approval of the coach, it is however strongly suggested you attend the spring tryout.

**Please note we are not able to accommodate anyone staying overnight. Hotel/Food accommodations are on your own.

Scholarships:

Some scholarship money is available for high achieving cheerleaders at MHU. Cheerleading scholarships are awarded based upon the students cumulative GPA, cheerleading skill level and ability, years on the team, professionalism and are given at the coaches and administrations discretion. Note: Not every cheerleader will receive a cheerleading scholarship and amounts will vary each year. The coach and administration reserve the right to remove a cheerleading scholarship from any individual who does not comply with the rules and regulations set forth in the student handbook and cheerleading program.

Tryout Attire:

- Royal Blue, Gold, or White top/t-shirt/sports bra

- Royal Blue, Gold, or Black shorts/bottoms

- Cheerleading shoes

- Please have hair half up or in a pony tail, bows are permitted in Royal, gold, white, black

- Make sure all makeup is Game day ready

- Tattoos should be covered at all times

- Absolutely NO JEWERLY and nails must be an appropriate length.

Skill Requirements:

Tryouts are face paced and participants should have experience in the following areas and skills levels and be able to execute the following:

Stunting- Participants must be able to perform the following stunts with a group.

Please note you may be asked to try different stunting positions by coaching staff

- Extension with a express down dismount

- Ground up Liberty, twisting dismount preferred

- Heel Stretch, twisting or flipping dismount preferred

- Transitional Skills including switch ups, full ups, rewinds

Game Day

- Fight Song

- 2 chants taught at tryouts

- Jumps (toe, double toe, optional combo jump)

- Crowd effectiveness

- Overall Appearance

- There will also be a stunting component for the game day section

Tumbling:

- Each cheerleader is strongly encouraged to have a standing back handspring.

** Cheerleaders who do not possess standing or running tumbling skills are still encouraged to tryout for the game day team. Participants who do not possess tumbling skills may not be eligible to compete but are eligible for the game day team.